Blogger Membership:

BECOME A PTBA INFLUENCER MEMBER TODAY

The Professional Travel Bloggers Association (PTBA) is a non-profit association of travel influencer and travel industry members. The PTBA was founded by a group of travel bloggers with the purpose of furthering the profession.

The PTBA provides education, resources, and networking opportunities with the goal of increasing the professionalism of the industry(see the Code of Ethics here) and helping travel influencers to make a living through their craft.

INFLUENCER MEMBERS RECEIVE

Membership in the only association that brings travel influencers and industry professionals together, allowing you to demonstrate your commitment to your profession

An entry in the PTBA database which is fully searchable by our industry members. Your profile can display as much information as you wish to share, including website traffic from Google Analytics, and your followings on Facebook, Twitter and more, so that industry members instantly see if you fit their needs.

A say in the direction of your professional association from this point forward. The PTBA is a democratic body — travel bloggers elect representatives from the membership to set policy and make decisions.

Access to a members-only Facebook group where you can connect with other bloggers and industry members

Representation at a variety of Industry conferences. The PTBA has presented at a number of industry trade shows, including ITB Berlin and WTM Latin America, as to the benefits of both the association and working with travel bloggers who are members of the association, and will continue to work with industry to raise the profile of travel bloggers

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER

To be eligible to join the Professional Travel Bloggers Association, an applicant must:

Meet our travel-related content minimum requirement (listed below)

Meet at least 3 of the online influence and professionalism criteria (listed below)

Pay an annual membership fee of $75 USD (can be paid at the bottom of this page using PayPal or any major credit card)

** AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EXISTING MEMBERS**

The PTBA membership requirements were updated in November 2016. Members who were accepted under the previous requirements before November 2016 will retain their membership and will not be required to meet the new requirements as long as their membership remains uninterrupted and their dues are paid. Members who were accepted under the previous requirements but let their membership lapse will have to reapply for membership under the new requirements.

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1. Travel-Related Content Minimum Requirements

To be eligible to join the Professional Travel Bloggers Association you have to show that you regularly publish travel-related content and that you have been publishing for at least one year. To show us that, we need you to provide two things:

Links to 10 pieces of travel content from the preceding year that were published on their own blog or elsewhere online

If your preceding year was abnormal for some reason you may submit 20 pieces of travel content from the past two years that were published on your own blog or elsewhere online

A link to either a travel blog post, travel article, or travel vlog that is no less than 365 days old

Travel content is considered to be content in which the main focus is the act of travel or which could reasonably be considered to be of use to, and created for the use of, travelers.

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2. Online Influence And Professionalism Criteria

To be eligible to join the Professional Travel Bloggers Association you must — in addition to meeting the minimum content requirements above — show that you meet at least 3 of the 7 online influence and professionalism criteria listed below.

You may choose any 3 criteria for your application.

Each criteria can only be used once per application. So, even if you have enough followers on several social networks to fulfill the social media criteria several times, you can only include the social media criteria on your application once for one social network. Even if you have more than one personal blog, you can only include the personal blog criteria on your application once for one blog.

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Personal Blog

A personal blog that is at least 1 year old and has received a minimum of 15,000 page-views in the 90 days (3 months) preceding the application.

To meet this criteria you must provide:

A link to a blog post at least one year old and a screenshot of your Google Analytics showing you meet the minimum traffic requirement. You must be willing to allow a PTBA board member to confirm the accuracy of the screenshot upon request.

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Email List

An email list with no less than 500 subscribers.

To meet this criteria you must provide:

A screenshot of your email dashboard showing that you meet the minimum subscriber requirement.

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Publications

Four pieces of travel content published in the past year by a reputable publication or publications.

Travel publications must meet the following requirements to be accepted as part of a your application:

Must be a registered business

Online travel publications must receive no less than 10,000 page-views per month

Print travel publications must have a circulation of no less than 1000 copies per issue.

In the case that a publication does not obviously met the above requirements it will be the responsibility of the applicant to provide proof of the publication’s business registration and traffic or circulation.

To meet this criteria you must provide:

Four links to online articles or images/PDFs of published articles.

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Social Media

A total of at least 3000 followers on one of the following platforms:

Facebook

Twitter

Vine

Instagram

Pinterest

Google +

WeChat

Only one social network following may be counted toward the three membership requirements.

To meet this criteria you must provide:If the social network shows followers publicly, you must provide a link to a public page showing how many followers you have. If the social network does not show followers publicly, you will have to provide a screenshot of the page showing your following and be willing to allow a PTBA board member to confirm the accuracy of the screenshot.

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Vlogging

At least 30,000 video views in the 185 days (6 months) preceding the application or 400 subscribers on any of the following platforms:

YouTube

Vimeo

Youku

Tudou

Only one video network following may be counted toward the three membership requirements.

To meet this criteria you must provide:Either a screenshot of the analytics showing that you meet the minimum view requirement or a link to a public page that shows that you meet the minimum subscriber requirement. You must be willing to allow a PTBA board member to confirm the accuracy of the screenshot upon request.

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Organization Membership

Membership in one of the recognized travel organizations.
Recognized organizations include:

Society of American Travel Writers

North American Travel Journalist’s Association

International Food & Travel Writer’s Association

The British Guild of Travel Writers

Only one organization membership may be counted toward the three membership requirements.

To meet this criteria you must provide:A photo or scan of both sides of your membership card showing that you are a member in good standing.

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Previous Partnerships

Two PTBA-verified references from travel industry representatives (such as PR officers, destination marketers, or product marketers) that the applicant has previously worked with.

To meet this criteria you must provide:Two signed letters of reference from two different industry professionals that include: 1) your reference’s name and job title, 2) a brief summary of your work together, 3) your reference’s contact information for verification purposes.

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HOW TO APPLY

1. Purchase your PTBA membership using the button below using PayPal or a credit card